Intro-thingie

[dray]

Hi, I'm Dray (or Terry, or any mix of those) and while I don't RP nearly as much as I used to, I still itch for it once in a while.


I started roleplaying when I was seventeen or eighteen, back in the days when tables and HTML were still the big thing, and making scripts for posting characters (along with all of these other newfangled things like 'PB's) were still glimmers in the eyes of future teens and preteens.

I found my first RP group at ezboards, a fantasy-based forum game where I could make all the typical newbie mistakes and get a feel for how RP worked. From there, I hopped through several message-board style forums (The Furry Dragons of Korknack, 'Agony Cometh', and other games where big furry dragon-creatures were the main characters, and everything was overpowered up the wazoo!)... I went through the usual angsty-characters phase, learned more RP etiquette, and eventually petered out as the forums ground to a halt.

For a long time I looked for other places to RP, but never really settled. Eventually I hopped over to instant messengers, still focusing largely on fantasy-based games, though the characters focused less on dragons and monsters and more on people. I'm still doing that today, though I largely only RP with my girlfriend, as we're both in the same house and can tell when the other is busy -- with college nearly done, we're both really short on time, and I hate to leave people I barely know hanging.

I loathe games where characters have to meet for the first time. I have played these kinds of threads dozens and dozens of times. :c It's so boring and awkward, I love storied characters, ones where plots are ongoing and characters are familiar enough with one another that the players can get to doing 'fun' scenes. I suppose that's why I've dropped so many games... XD A large amount of them wind up being 'Character A meets Character B' and they never interact again. Blegh!

I admit that the meme's advertised were what drew me here. I've got a soft-spot for filling them out, so I'm curious to see where that goes. Maybe once college is finally over with, I'll have a touch more time to actually roleplay, make friends, and create new plots and interesting happenings... but you know how growing up eats your time like delicious muffins. XD *crosses fingers*

Anyways! *waves* Hello!

Comments

[dray]

I'd love if there was some kind of batch of forms that we could fill out, like... I don't know, some 'introduce us to your favorite character(s)' or maybe some weekly prop or situation that we could respond to with how our characters would react.

Maybe, in addition to character-based chatter, there could be some kind of potential plot brainstorming? 'Using X prop, make up a basic plot-starter' where the mods supply some props, and members can use their characters, or just make up a random situation...

I know it's not roleplaying in and of itself, but I love filling those things out. XD

And ugh, I know. I've joined or started so many 'they were lounging under a tree and heard a noise!!' threads. The most fun that I've had (and am having) is this cheesy plot where one of my characters keeps getting kidnapped by everybody and our other characters have to keep saving her. It's... not something that I'd play with an acquaintance for fear of being yelled at for mary-sueing, but it's so much more fun. X3

Maybe some forms or memes to help people gauge each other on the level of seriousness they like in their RP? For example, I'm not elitist about spelling and grammar, though I get bored to tears over plots that are too rife with angst. Some people are very serious and only want to play angst. Some folks only want fluff, or on the other hand PWP!

And... maybe some kind of flash-RP, or... I'm not sure what they're called on journaling communities, as I haven't used IJ/LJ/DW for RP much at all. Just little silly RP threads started up for meet-n-greet in character that aren't so serious that they're boring? This way, members can get to know one another if they want to in a more off the cuff manner, and it's not such a formal... I don't know. I find that IMing people for the first plot or brainstorming session is a really stiff, formal proceeding. It's like there's too much pressure and both sides fold and don't continue because, oh god, something amazing has to spawn up in the very first conversation!!1 XD I'd love if there was a less intensive way to get some chatter going.

[dray]

Maybe RP parties as well where your characters are actually the ones acting out different roles than they normally would, to see how they react to that. (Some characters might like pretending, while some might think it's lame. XD)

I really like the thought of using forms/prompts/questions/etc. to think of things in new ways. Even just for characters would be great, though making new characters to play around with things sounds like fun, too.

Tags sound good. So long as there aren't tonnes and tonnes of them, they could prove useful. Just usernames?

Using new characters every time sounds challenging... but also interesting! If we find a set that really clicks, we can use those same characters over again via different modes, like AIM or gmail chat or something? (I guess that makes sense, hence saying that we can post our logs up. XD)

[dray]

Oh no, I'm very busy these days... you can count on me to be here for a few days, then to vanish for a few, and maybe to show up again two to three weeks later with gusto and then disappear again. :x That's apparently my special move, or something. (I blame school, though also that I don't use DW as often as I use livejournal, so there are times when I forget to check my reading list... however, I have this community subscribed to so that I can keep better track of who posts when!) I will post around, though my internet voice is relatively tiny, so I don't know how many people I can reel in.

Maybe ask the mods in some of the fandom-based RP advertisement communities if you can advertise there? It may be worth it to open the doors to fandom-based characters if it means that we get more exposure to a different gaming style, and they get more exposure to using original characters!

[dray]

Ditto for me; DW is cleaner and nicer... and I have the username that I would actually like for my LJ. XD

"Personally I'd love to have a place where I won't turn around and see Batman. XD"

This cracked me up! XD

One thing that you might like (I was poking around on LJ for similar ideas in communities) is out_lines, where there are a million and one character questions. (Check the memories, I think!) I only just found it, but it seems like it could be fun. X3 If it were still alive, anyways!

If you do make an LJ community based on this, please let me know? I will definitely pimp it out to my f-list!

[dray]

This sounds perfect. X3 The community would only benefit from many more folks to chatter.

[zenzi]

opening up to fandom is ok in my opinion if its original characters in the fandom world not like oh I wanna be batman, or yesh I am harry potters and I do not think all the books are wrong and should go this way. no no, fandom if done right is fun.

I made a few random fandom characters that were original, and had a lot of fun with it and had some interesting rp. Just make it clear that this is a roleplaying for characters community and that if you wanna do fandom rp that the focus should be on character and how they are and how they might change over the course of the story.

But yes I think we should set some ground rules also for our rp comunity, I like being as open as possible but somtimes you just have to spell things out for people or they just wont get it. for example I think we should keep this community as pg-13 as possible, I do not mind reading some gory bits here and there and swear words do not really bother me, but when people start going into detail about how much gore it is kinda grosses me out, unless it really fits the situation and you have been trying to work it in taistfully.

now I did not originaly think this comment would turn into this but meh oh well :3

[dray]

There are also a beellion treellion porn-writing communities out there already, so I would be just fine with the site being PG-13 in regards to sexually suggestive (or outright sexual) content, as well. Of course, that's another draw-tactic, but like fandom-openness you might see the community filling up with content that you hadn't intended...

I like the idea of allowing fandom characters in based on characters, not on being true to the story that they came from. Emphasizing that players should be thinking of how characters change over time seems like a more eloquent way to open things up than to pimp original-characters-in-fandom-setting sorts of things. I've seen that fandom-centric RPers tend to look down on original characters in fandom settings because the likelihood of a mary sue popping up just goes through the roof. XD

Never the less, if this place should be about original writing, then shout that from the rooftops! It may just need some stronger, bolder delineation of what it is and what it isn't in order to draw more members in!